Month: December 2019

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1. Cult of Two by Michael Faudet
2. The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in this One by Amanda Lovelace
3. My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoche Williams
4. Inward by Yung Pueblo
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
6. The Cheater’s Guide to Love by Junot Díaz

2020 enters a new decade, and with this new decade, perhaps it’s a good time to read books which push our thinking on how to live most authentically and true to ourselves (in the case of My Friend Anna, this is a story about quite literally living an honest life versus living a lie). Perhaps it is living out our truths in the most authentic way possible can we work towards affecting the change that we hope to see in the world. I have this hope as we enter into the new decade, it’s pure and simple, and yet increasingly difficult to come across in society.

The themes which arise most poignantly throughout these books include love, healing, introspection, and perhaps most importantly, pluralism. As our pluralistic society begins to fade, we must foster this by being the example of it in acting in sincere kindness to one another everyday. I don’t think we should underestimate the power of pluralism and in acceptance. By accepting ourselves and others as we are, the real work in improving the world’s state begins.

“And because love, real love, is not so easily shed.” – Junot Díaz

To me, the rose is the most sacred of flowers. It represents so many different stages of life in its bloom and yet it is beautiful in all of its stages. Beyond the rosebud, the stem bears its thorns. What is beautiful should not be taken for granted, and roses should defend themselves. The rose’s meaning is extensive, from a symbol of love and passion, to a meaning of confidentiality. In Latin, the expression “sub rosa” literally means “under the rose.” In ancient Rome, a rose was placed on a door when confidential matters were discussed. Anything that was said “under the rose” was intended to be secret.

The rose was sacred to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. It’s also linked to Cupid, the son of Venus. In one myth, he drops nectar and of the nectar grows roses. The rose was also sacred to Bacchus, the god of wine. Cleopatra was said to have had a floor covered in roses before her lover visited her.

In Catholicism, the rose is a symbolic element of the Holy Rosary. The origins of this date back to when Fra Angelico (an early Renaissance painter) saw the Virgin Mary in a vision with a group of Angels creating a crown of roses for the Virgin. This imagery is contrasted by the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. When united, the symbolism of these two crowns, is that the Mother of Jesus is the blooming rose and the thorns (Jesus) are a part of the rose. The Virgin Mary is often depicted with roses. The “miracle of the roses” is a miracle in which roses manifest as an act of God or a saint. This dates back as a spiritual experience to the 12th century.

Roses come in many colors. There is the red rose, the lover’s rose, there is the white rose of humility and innocence, there is the yellow rose symbolizing friendship and joy. Finally, my favorite, the pink rose symbolizing gratitude, appreciation, and admiration. The number of roses in a bouquet can also express different sentiments. For example, giving one rose can mean “love at first sight,” whereas a perfect dozen says, “be mine,” or two dozen communicates a deeper devotion and so on. There is so much to be communicated with roses and shared with many. I think attributing the title “Queen of Flowers” to the rose is not a mistake.

The rose can also be a stately symbol. The rose is the national flower of the United States and the state flower of New York, Georgia, Oklahoma, Iowa, North Dakota, and District of Columbia. June is the month of the rose; not surprisingly many weddings occur in June, as weddings are also often associated with roses. The rose is so versatile, it continues to share meaning in so many forms.

In Tarot cards, the symbolic meaning of the rose is balance. It expresses promise, new beginnings, and hope. Its thorns in Tarot represent defense, physicality, loss, and thoughtlessness. The blooming of the rose can be understood as the fleetingness of life and further, death. Life is beautiful… as portrayed in the blooming of the rose. 

Luxury beauty is definitely not a niche market (the industry achieved $81B in sales this year). As far as luxury beauty goes, Chantecaille has added a layer into their brand that I think makes for the price to be more conscionable: every product that Chantecaille sells has an environmental program that it gives back to. This all began with one person. Sylvie Chantecaille had a dream about bringing together these different concepts and developed a product line in service of the environment and a deep appreciation for beauty. I think this should be celebrated. I am in awe of people who find their life’s passions and pursue it relentlessly. We need stories like this to remind us that we can create unique scenarios that seem less than possible and scale them. We need that kind of inspiration more than ever.

Chantecaille has integrated CSR into their business and operating model. It has also added a unique marketing dimension to its brand that is super appealing; all of the products include an animal on it, reminding the consumer of its commitment to the variety of environmental causes it commits funds to. For example, if it’s a lion, there’s a conservation charity or a coral reef is towards ocean health and sustainability. While this may not be at the social change scale that we need in the scope of how detrimental climate change is becoming, the fact that there is a luxury beauty brand entirely committed to this effort in a behemoth industry is quite remarkable.

Oftentimes, CSR is on the periphery for companies; it almost acts as an accessory to the core offering. You see this very often in women’s retail. Women make up over 80% of all consumers (which means that CSR for women needs to be taken very seriously when you are orienting towards a female dominated market).

For example, there may be a contract partnership with a well known charity (Susan G. Komen for Wacoal Intimates) or perhaps it’s a larger part of the brand’s story like the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in deep partnership with Estee Lauder. In fact, Sylvie Chantecaille previously worked with Estee Lauder and Diane von Furstenberg. It’s likely that Sylvie considered how she could create a beauty brand that integrated CSR in a way that’s never been done before.

Despite the myriad of partnership offerings, embedding CSR into the business model is less common. In my opinion, the future of CSR (and the future of many businesses) is including a dimension of sustainability to serve the increasingly socially aware consumer. Chantecaille serves as a wonderful example of this. I remember admiring the beautiful highlight palettes and eyeshadows at Neiman Marcus when I was little girl. I still have this same awe towards this brand. I hope the Chantecaille family continues making this wonderful impact for years to come.

I am ecstatic to share this interview with AnnaNoel Olson, current Miss Alameda County Teen USA, former Miss Beverly Hills Teen USA, and current Miss San Diego Teen USA. The beautiful Bay Area native will be competing for Miss California Teen USA in January and it’s my pleasure to share our conversation which spanned her experiences in pageantry to date. AnnaNoel does great work as an Anti-Bullying advocate and also cares about causes that span from the homelessness crisis to ending human trafficking through her social justice platform #endinjustice.  She generously shared her experience with the health condition POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and her advocacy for the condition. AnnaNoel’s star is certainly on the rise and it’s clear that she will continue doing great things. Please enjoy our interview as much as we enjoyed speaking to one another. 

Best of luck at Miss California Teen USA this January, AnnaNoel, we will be cheering you on.  Follow AnnaNoel on Instagram @annanoellll 

xx Bianca 

Bianca: How long have you been competing in pageantry? 

AnnaNoel: Well this will be my fourth year at Miss California Teen USA this January and I didn’t grow up doing pageants, it was not like a Toddlers and Tiaras situation!  I actually grew up doing martial arts, so this is not something I was around or anyone I knew did. I was just reading about it online and I was fascinated with Miss USA and Miss Universe and I asked myself, “How can I do this?”  I kind of just jumped in and I don’t have the background that a lot of the girls have. Long story short, this will be my fourth year. 

To give you some background on pageants, I compete in the Miss Universe Organization pageants.  There are other systems like Miss America and Miss International, those are different systems. I’ve noticed those tend to have the girls that have been doing it growing up.  I have found that the girls who are competing for Miss USA, the majority of them didn’t grow up doing it and many are also pursuing a modeling career. 

Bianca: What would you say is your overarching career ambition? 

AnnaNoel: There are two different categories.  I definitely want to pursue modeling and sign to an agency, which I am working on currently, but have never seen modeling as my long term career. It’s never been like “oh I’m not going to college, I’m just going to pursue modeling,” that’s never been like that for me. I would love to make it in modeling though.  I am currently a sophomore in college and I don’t know exactly what I want to do, but I know whatever career I go into, I am changing someone’s life or impacting their life in a really positive way.  

I’m interested in becoming a Registered Nurse or potentially going further into medical school or something in psychology or law.  Pretty much anything that requires a lot of school! I definitely don’t see myself working a 9-5pm job behind a desk, I would like to do something more hands on and it’s something that I know I am making an impact and that my purpose is changing people’s lives.  I’m figuring out what that is right now and I have so many interests. I am 18 years old, to be quite honest, I don’t know exactly what I want to do, and I think that’s totally fine. I feel like many times young people are pressured to figure out exactly how they are going to spend the rest of their life. I’ve seen that this often leads to people picking a career they are unsure about which I definitely don’t want to do. Broadly, I know I want to impact people’s lives everyday.

I am currently doing my general education online with Las Positas Community College right now and in April, I’ll be moving to Los Angeles and will transfer to Santa Monica Community College and plan to transfer to a university in LA. 

Bianca: Speaking of Northern California and Southern California, you are also a Bay Area native.  What would you say is your favorite part about California? 

AnnaNoel: I grew up in California and I genuinely cannot see myself living anywhere else.  Once you grew up here, it’s like, how could you leave California? I think it’s just so incredible that I have so many different interests and so many different environments to enjoy. For example, I love snowmobiling and I can drive a couple hours and I am at the snow. I am obsessed with the beach and I could go there in 30-45 min, and when I move in a few months, I will be even closer!

I feel like the people of California really come together when something happens, too.  For example, I volunteered to help with the Paradise fires and seeing people from all backgrounds coming together was just so incredible to watch and see everyone putting aside their differences and seeing that really warms my heart.  I feel like the people of California have that unique trait of coming together. I would never want to live anywhere else, it’s just amazing!  

Bianca: Do you have any suggestions for best places to visit in Northern California? 

AnnaNoel: I am obsessed with Santana Row in San Jose, I just love walking around and seeing everyone in the community there, it’s just such a cute area.  I also really love this hiking area in Sunol that has this beautiful waterfall, it’s actually called Little Yosemite. 

I also love this place in Oakland called Plank, it’s an arcade and bowling alley for adults.  It’s basically kids stuff, but made cool for adults and I love that. I think it’s so fun. I don’t think because you grow up, you need to leave any of that behind.  They’re not just for kids.

Bianca: You have modeled quite a bit! What has been your favorite photo shoot theme thus far? 

AnnaNoel: Well I’ll start with my favorite photo shoot, it was this jungle themed shoot.  It was at a person’s house and it was just the coolest thing, there was a tree house and part of the set was a bathtub in the backyard.  It was the coolest location ever. That’s not something you get to work with often. That was by far the most fun. There was a swing and I was drinking out of a coconut… you’d think I was in Bali… I was actually in El Dorado Hills! 

I love doing editorial photoshoots, like in studios. I think you can do high fashion, kind of weird stuff, that looks really cool for the camera and I come up with a lot of ideas on my own.  Most of the time, I’ll come up with my own ideas and I need to work with photographers who share my vision because a lot of the time it can sound strange, but most of the time the photos come together perfectly. 

I also love nice, clean beauty shots.  An off the shoulder top, pretty makeup, a very clean background…  pretty beauty shots that you would see a makeup brand do… like holding a lipstick and you get this really nice glamour shot.  Those are definitely some of my favorites. 

Bianca: Who would you say is your biggest role model? 

AnnaNoel: One of my biggest role models is a woman named Christine Caine.  She started an organization called A21 that is focused on abolishing modern day slavery.  She saw a flyer in an airport and from that flyer decided that she was going to start this organization and this organization and they have saved thousands of lives and they give people opportunities to assimilate back into society, getting them jobs, homes, resources and opportunities for jobs.  I just think that is something that Christine did something on her own initiative because she felt something needed to be done. That’s what inspired me to start my Anti-Bullying campaign #itstartswithme. 

The meaning behind #itstartswithme is that you can’t wait for anyone else to start something, if you see something that you think needs to be changed, you need to do it, regardless of what everyone else is doing.  It’s as simple as it starts with you.  You may as well do it. 

She has impacted so many lives and it really inspired me to do similarly.

Bianca: I know that you have done quite a bit of Anti-Bullying advocacy, are you also tying that into your interest in Anti-Slavery advocacy into your social good platform as well? 

AnnaNoel: I started my Anti-Bullying campaign #itstartswithme as a result of my PTSD from bullying. I suffered from traumatic bullying for several years. This resulted in actual physical health issues.  I was diagnosed with POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), which is because the mental injury turned into a physical injury based off of the way my body was comprehending everything. 

POTS is a condition that affects blood flow.  For me, one of the results were excruciating nerve pain to the point that I wasn’t even able to hold a toothbrush without experiencing pain. It took a long time, but I was eventually diagnosed by a team at Stanford with some symptoms of POTS. It wasn’t till years later of endless research that I figured out I had POTS and informed my doctor that I needed the test, and in fact, I did have it.  1 in 100 teenagers get diagnosed with POTS and a lot of teenagers have it and a lot of people may not know that it even exists. 

I started this campaign in support of anti-bullying, but it’s evolved to include my interests in combating homelessness, ending human trafficking, and my family’s involvement in sponsoring children in different countries through World Vision.  I changed the description to be “ending injustice” to encompass all of these topics that I’m so passionate about. Right now, I am currently volunteering for the homeless community, raising awareness for anti-slavery, all of my continued work in support of anti-bullying, as well as supporting the children that my family support through World Vision as well.  That’s why I changed #ItStartsWithMe to be in support of ending all injustice, including ending bullying.

Bianca: What are your favorite beauty tips and tricks? 

AnnaNoel: I absolutely love doing a creme liquid bronzer where you basically do it before you put on any powder and over your liquid foundation. I think it looks so natural and has this amazing finish.  You put it on before you put on your contour, it just makes your face looks so good when you’re finished. I apply powder and bronzer over, but it adds dimension and depth in a way that I totally notice when I don’t do it.   

The one that I use is by NYX…I know that Kim Kardashian has a creme contour stick, and lots of high end brands and drugstores carry creme contour sticks, but as far as what I’m referring to, not as many companies do carry the liquid bronzer.  That is my number one trick that I thought of one day when I was darkening my foundation. I think just powder and bronzer is too obvious otherwise. 

I also love adding my translucent powder over my concealer with a Beautyblender. 

I would say those are the two things that I have thought of over the years that make my makeup stand out well and fixes some of the things that people don’t like about contouring.  Also, blending makeup into your ears and down your neck and even in the back of your neck. 

Also, when I do pageants I like to highlight my collar bones, but I don’t want it to sparkle, it has to have the right sheen. 

Bianca: What are you most looking forward to for Miss California Teen USA in January? 

AnnaNoel: It’s going to be my fourth year and I’m looking forward to making new friends, some of my best friends I’ve met through the competition.  I am looking forward to meeting so many new people, too. I am also looking forward to my gown, I just got it a couple of weeks ago, it’s the most unique thing I have ever seen.  It’s is a one of a kind gown and I am really excited. I also love the interview portion, too. It’s very much a conversation and you get to tell them about yourself, I’m just really good with connecting and speaking with people. If you can make a genuine and personable connection with the judges, then that’s great.  I do really enjoy interviews for sure, just like this one! 

Thank you, AnnaNoel, for your deep and personal insights, and your bravery to share all of this with us.  Follow AnnaNoel on Instagram @annanoellll

Each year, Swarovski in collaboration with a couture designer work to create the Vienna Opera Ball’s annual tiara for the young ladies stepping out into society in Vienna. This year’s tiara was designed by Christian Lacroix. I have included a retrospective here of the most recent year’s designs, how it has evolved, and thoughts on this annual tradition in Austria. Aside from Vienna, there is a similar event that occurs in New York each year, which hosts Austrian diplomats and usually Miss Universe attends. Stanford University also holds a similar event for students who are interested in Austrian culture. This year’s Vienna Opera Ball will be on February 20, 2020. ORF, Austria’s official broadcaster will air the ball, which you can live stream.

The Vienna Opera Ball has happened every year at the Wiener Staatsoper since 1814. It has evolved quite a bit since then, but it has continued a tradition of being the premier (and most exclusive event) for seeing and being seen, which is essentially the point of a society gathering…

The event always begins at 10pm and the Austrian President indicates the beginning of the event by entering onto the imperial balcony. Then, 180 debutante couples step into the ballroom. The way in which the couples are selected is through an application process where they must learn strict classical choreography by the Elmayer Dance School. During the event, there is an in house hair stylist, tailor, and medical teams are always on standby in case the twirling becomes a bit too much…

The esteemed businessman Richard Lugner has been known for many years to take famous female social figures, which have included Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Carmen Electra, Dita von Teese, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Mr. Lugner has certainly kept up the spirit of “seeing and being seen.”

The tiara designs have varied over the years, all designed by well known designers. In recent years, my personal favorite tiara was designed by Dolce & Gabbana; the beautiful golden toned tiara with elegant crystal flowers entwined with one another exemplify the youth, beauty, and elegance of what the event is known to represent.